Moving Day

Monday is moving day. We’re heading from the east coast of the South Island to the west, from the Pacific side to the Tasman Sea coast. It began raining as we left Christchurch, the first foul weather of the trip. The steady rain gave way to a light mist as we snaked up the mountains and into the low cloud cover, a surreal drive into the sky.

We stopped in Arthur’s Pass National Park for a short, but steep hike up to the base of Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, a spectacular hundred meter falls made even more dramatic by the morning rain. The path took us within about thirty or forty meters from the foot of the falls, and we soaked up the mist.

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Bridal Veil Falls was a short but tricky hike through the damp and shaded mountain forest. We didn’t get nearly as close, as the path to the base of the falls was under repair and going was a little muddy and slick. Still, we got a great view of the falls and the tall peaks dotting the skyline of the park. All around the paths and up into the hills, streams burst into waterfalls, spilling over the sides of the canyons and bluffs.

We drove through Arthur’s Pass (955 meters above sea level) after a quick picnic lunch. I used the small gears on our little Toyota hatchback to safely navigate the sixteen percent (!) grade going down into the valley; we were now officially on the West Coast.

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The scenic overlooks provided dramatic views of the rushing river and many tall, skinny waterfalls that sprouted from the cliffs after the rain.

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At one stop, a few kea birds were causing a scene -- the curious parrots are famous in New Zealand for their playful antics and thieving ways. One bird made off with a picnicker’s bag of bacon; another chewed at the antenna and rubber piping on their car.

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Pushing along up the scenic highway 6 along the rugged Tasman coast -- not many swimming beaches or surfers here, the surf is much too rough and the coastline is more rocky than the peaceful sandy beaches of the Pacific coast’s inland coves -- we reached Punakaiki by mid-afternoon, well-ahead of schedule.

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Punakaiki is the only place in the world with formations of pancake rocks, stacked layers of limestone that do indeed look like flapjacks. We snapped a couple of photos, stopped for a coffee and hit the local grocery store to pick up steaks and potatoes for a Valentine’s Day cook out.

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We rolled into Hokitika with plenty of time to prep food in the hostel’s large and well-equipped kitchen and grill a great meal on the hostel’s back deck before heading to the beach to catch one of Hoki’s amazing sunsets -- just enough cloud for the sun to bounce glowing oranges and reds before dipping below the horizon, leaving a soft, dusky blue light, a great end to our first V-Day together. I don’t know if we’ll ever top it.

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